The All-in-One Gadget Every Runner Needs to Hear About

The All-in-One Gadget Every Runner Needs to Hear About

TomTom Runner Cardio

There’s so much running gear out there: heart rate chest monitors, GPS watches, and dozens of apps. But all of these gadgets can start to weigh us down—physically and mentally—which is exactly what we don’t need in the middle of a run. That’s why we were so excited when we discovered the TomTom Runner Cardio. We loved using TomTom’s GPS watches in the past, but the Runner Cardio ups the ante by with a built-in heart rate monitor and tons of cool extras—like being able to race your past performances and syncing up with the most popular running apps.

The Runner Cardio’s screen is big, so we didn’t have to squint mid-run to see our pace, distance, or heart rate. And the toggle made it easy to navigate through the gadget's different screens—we no longer found ourselves struggling with the hard-to-press buttons on the side of most GPS watches. In fact, TomTom has made it so we don’t even need to look down at our wrist. The Runner Cardio has a vibrate feature that buzzes when you’ve met personal goals you’ve set for yourself. The device will even vibrate when you've reached the halfway point of your run so you know it’s time to turn back. (This saved us from looking for the random local landmarks we pick out that seem to be near the usual halfway point!)

Best of all: The Runner Cardio is built to last. Straps are usually the first thing to go on most GPS watches. The strap on the Runner Cardio can be replaced, meaning you don’t have to buy a totally new watch each time. And believe us, you’ll be getting a lot of use out of this watch, so durability is important.